


Not So Subtle

by takingovermidnight



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Marius, Canon Era, Drunk Grantaire, Enjolras Being An Asshole, Grantaire is a Mess, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Pining Grantaire, blame it on Marius, but like what's new, then not being an asshole, until the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-16 19:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11259744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/takingovermidnight/pseuds/takingovermidnight
Summary: Basically like red and black, but Lamarque doesn't die yet so they have to wait a little longer for revolution. Marius got a lot of feelings, but Grantaire has more. Marius ruins everything by being his awkward self and Grantaire makes it worse being his drunk self.





	Not So Subtle

“Marius. What’s going on? You look paler than usual, like you’ve seen a ghost!” Joly remarks upon seeing Marius enter the musain and coming over to sit at the back table. More worried he continues, “Are you well? Do we need to get you to a doctor? Are you contagious?”

“The only thing I’m infected with is love,” Marius sighs in response.

Grantaire joins the two at the table interjecting, “Marius in love? Has the world turned on its head? You’re still avoiding Courfeyrac because he tried to set you up with a girl, yet now you are in love. I am truly aghast.” 

Joly laughs at Grantaire’s melodramatic comment which causes Marius to blush even more than he would’ve at just the comment alone. “When I saw her today she burst into my life like the light of the sun. Perhaps the she has turned the world on it’s head because everything I had known before feels wrong and only being with her feels right.” Marius went on, not seeming to care or notice that his friends were slightly mocking him.

Grantaire laughs, “Oh please Marius, do describe this dear mademoiselle who entered your world and changed it so. Is she as flawless as grecian goddess? Is she as radiant as the sun? Does she have golden curls and eyes the color of the sea?”

Marius sits back in his chair before responding, stunned at how much Grantaire seems to know about the girl he had seen just before the meeting. Had Grantaire seen her as well? “Have you seen her before as well?” Marius asks intently, “Your description was quite accurate.”

Not paying attention to Marius, but rather gently staring to the other side of the room, Grantaire replies, “I can assure you that my description was a lucky guess. I suppose that those who draw a man in despite his beliefs, or lack of beliefs, tend to share common features.”

Marius and Joly look over at each other and then look back at Grantaire who was still staring across the room, same gentle expression, while drinking wine straight from the bottle. “I think you’ve had enough to drink…” Joly trails on trying to gently remove the wine bottle from Grantaire’s hand.

Brushing Joly aside and taking yet another swig Grantaire continues, “I will not have had enough to drink until either my sorrows disappear or I am laying on the floor unconscious.”

“So Marius,” Joly says in order to change the topic to anything except Grantaire’s drunken tendencies, “What is her name?”

“I’m not exactly sure of her name, but my-”

Grantaire practically spits his wine across the room and laughs unnecessarily loud, drawing the attention of almost everyone in the room. After coughing a bit he goes on to jest, “Oh Marius, what must we do with you? You have fallen head over heels for a girl you do not know the name of! Have you even spoken a word to her?”

“Not yet, but-”

Rising from his chair and addressing the entire room the drunken man continues, “Of course you haven’t! Who needs communication when you can lovingly stare at someone for twenty seconds? Surely such an intimate moment has revealed your entire future together!”

Marius is now red with a combination of mostly embarrassment and some frustration. Additionally, the entire room is staring at him and a few friends are laughing at him, making the situation worse than he would’ve hoped. Leave it to Grantaire to blow everything out of proportion. 

When the laughter dies down and Grantaire gets settled back in his seat, Enjolras shoots the back table a nasty look and announces, “We have higher priorities than a stranger Marius wandered into on the street. If you wish to be of use come here and plan rather than throw your life away drinking alcohol.”

“Oh  _ I’m  _ throwing  _ my  _ life away?” Grantaire practically snorts, “Says the one who’s willing to lead himself and all of his closest friends to their certain demise with his so called revolution.”

“Now is not the time for petty disputes,” Enjolras continues, “we have important plans to make, we need to reach all of the people with our cause and pass our passion for freedom onto them.”

Grantaire shrugs and goes back to drinking his wine, deciding not to take the argument further even though he could’ve and probably would’ve gotten a kick out of it. Joly goes over to Enjolras because he may seem charming, but the leader was capable of being fear inspiring when he had to be. Marius, however, remains oblivious. Oblivion was not uncommon for marius, but this time was different because he did not have solid concept on his mind. The only concept on his mind was the abstract one of love.

Marius sat quietly for awhile with his thoughts. The conversation of his eager peers bustling in his ears as he sips from the cup of wine Grantaire gave him at some point earlier in the evening. Did this mystery girl even see him there? Sure she was staring right back at him, but did she see him the way he saw her? Would Eponine be able to find her or has she disappeared forever? Even if he did find her, would she return his feelings? He felt as if he already knew her without knowing her name. It was as if they were destined to be together and it was written in the stars. Breaking his silence he asks quietly, yet curiously, “Do you think she feels the same way?”

Grantaire looks at marius with a baffled expression that seems to ask ‘who me?’. Marius nods at him and Grantaire immediately appears sober, but still a little spaced out turning his attention to the other side of the room where only Enjolras remains scouring over plans. Not paying any attention to the actual recipient of his response he begins, “I honestly cannot say. You need to ask her for yourself. If she really means alot to you, then it’s worth trying. There’s a good chance she will like you back. It could be worse, you could be like me, the one person your world revolves around tells you that they cannot stand you on every possible occasion.”

Almost on cue Enjolras paces across the room and mutters, “Of course the only ones left are those who are no assistance to my revolution. You’re best off leaving now. The musain is closing.”

Grantaire half-smiles, “Anything for you Enj.”

Enjolras rolls his eyes and replies, “I cannot stand you.”

“Has there ever been an occasion in which you haven’t reminded me of that?” Grantaire replies smiling at Enjolras, but not in a mocking way, a genuinely sweet way.

That night as Marius goes home his friend’s drunken words repeat through his ears. Not just Grantaire’s advice, but everything he had said throughout the night. The way he would stare across the room while talking of his own love and how unattainable it was. How he had described the girl Marius had seen so perfectly without even knowing who Marius was talking about. The way he complained about his love always telling him that he hated him only to be told a few minutes later that he was hated. He was hated… by Enjolras. The same Enjolras who was had blonde curly hair and blue eyes. The same Enjolras who really was unattainable, not only due to hatred, but due to the law. The same Enjolras that he was staring at, rather than engaging in conversation with Marius. It all connected. Grantaire wasn’t interested in or even trying to discus Marius’ love for the mystery girl, he was rambling about his own love… love for Enjolras.

“You ever find out her name?” Grantaire jokingly asks as he sees Marius head to the familiar back table.

“It’s a work in progress. My friend Eponine is helping me find where she lives so I can speak with her again. Maybe I’ll even get the courage to give her my address!” Marius responds cheerfully. Almost pushing his realization about Grantaire to the back of his mind, but not quite. As curious as he was about the girl he was also curious if Grantaire really felt that way. That way about men or more specifically about Enjolras.

“You want a some wine?” Grantaire asks already pouring himself a generous cup.

Marius’ curiosity peaked and his capability to make even the most casual conversation awkward had decided to display itself yet again when he blurted out, much louder than ever intended if intended at all, “Are you in love with Enjolras?”

The room turns and looks at the pale faced and wide eyed Marius accompanied by Grantaire who had just dropped a wine bottle onto the ground causing it to shatter. The room is silent aside from the sound of glass breaking until Grantaire yells, “You really couldn’t have been anymore subtle, could you?”

Marius just gulps only to let out a muffled, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to. But last night you just seemed to be-”

Cutting him off Grantaire angrily remarks, “Well there’s no fucking denying it now is there Pontmercy?” He goes on to laugh as if he were a madman, or maybe only to mask sobs, “That’s right everyone you heard it loud and clear I’m gay, and I just so happen to be madly in love with your glorious leader.” Then already exiting the room making his tone more serious he says through the doorway, “Please do call the inspector. Have him send me to the goddamn guillotine! It’s better than living in a world like this anyway.” He leaves the building and a noxious silence hangs over them.

“Shall we alert someone?” Combeferre asks Enjolras slightly loosening the tension that pulls the room so tight it could snap any second.

Enjolras shakes his head gravely not lifting his gaze from the table. “I’ll get him and deal with the issue on my own. You all resume the meeting as if nothing is wrong. We have more important issues to tackle than Grantaire’s outburst.”

Combeferre nods and takes over leading everyone in Enjolras’ place. Meanwhile Enjolras darts out of the building hoping that he can find Grantaire before he does anything he’ll regret even more. It doesn’t take him too long to find Grantaire stumbling down an alley, but Grantaire notices him before he is able to speak.

“So you’ve come to bring me in yourself?”

“What are you talking about Grantaire? Do you really think I’m going to report you to the authorities?”

“Well, that is what I had hoped you would do.”

“Grantaire, I’m not going to have you killed!”

“In all fairness you should! For christ’s sake I’m breaking the law just by existing, so I kind of deserve it. What point is there in living if there is nothing to live for? Now that you know about…” Grantaire trails on searching for the right words then continues, “the way I feel about you, you certainly don’t want me around. To hell, you didn’t even want me around before you knew I was madly in love with you. Now that I can’t be with you my existence is pointless and honestly is only bringing me misery. If I were to be sent to the guillotine or hung or whatever they do to men like me, it would probably be more beneficial to everyone, myself included. So I beg of you, please have them take me out of my misery.” 

“Do you really think I’d be coming to get you if I didn’t care about you?” Enjolras yells, fuming at Grantaire. He pauses for a moment, collects himself, then sighs. His vision blurred and he felt cool tears gently fall onto his cheeks.

Grantaire immediately blames himself. Leave it to him to break the unbreakable. He then apologizes softly, stepping closer to Enjolras, “I’m sorry. For all of this. It’s your decision how you feel about this I’ll go home and stop burdening you.”

“You’re not a burden,” Enjolras states wiping his tears away only leaving damp patches for the sun to glisten on, making him seem even more radiant. When his eyes are dry he holds Grantaire’s arm, not allowing him to retreat to his house and he locks his eyes onto Grantaire’s. 

Grantaire didn’t want to make Enjolras even more upset, but his disbelief took over. Sternly, he asks, “How can you say I’m not a burden when you go out of your way to remind me of how much you cannot stand me?”

“It’s not so much that I hate you, I just hated that you didn’t care about anything. I’ll admit, I was wrong. There is something, or should I say someone, you care about and truthfully, I’m flattered to be that person.”

“So, you don’t hate me? Even now? I don’t bother you?”

Enjolras just shakes his head, still maintaining eye contact. He loosens his grip on Grantaire’s arm so that it no longer felt restraining, but rather comforting. “I don’t hate you. Especially not now. If anything now, you bother me less. You make me realize it’s okay…”

“Realize what’s okay?”

“My feelings for you.”

 


End file.
